This invention relates to a retainer for supporting a decorative article on the person, and particularly for application to a pierced ear-lobe as in an ear-ring, or for engagement through an article of clothing as in a brooch or a lapel badge or the like.
It is well known to support a decorative article, especially a piece of jewellery, on the person by means of a retainer comprising a pin member carrying said article and a fastening device separably connectable to the pin member. In the case of ear-rings, for pierced ear lobes, one common form of retainer has a threaded pin member and the fastening device is provided with a co-operatingly threaded bore permitting said device to be screwed onto the pin to retain the ear-ring in place. Another common form of ear-ring retainer has a pin member which is not threaded and the fastening device is in the form of a so-called "butterfly", being a plate with a hole for slidably receiving the pin member and having resiliently deformable means to frictionally engage a portion of the pin extending through said hole. Usually, the said resiliently deformable means is provided by curling opposite end portions of the plate rearwardly, to provide opposed wings between which the pin member is gripped.
German Offenlegungsschrift (OLS) No. 3002522 published July 30, 1981 discloses a jewellery retainer comprising a pin member and a "butterfly" fastening device in which the fastening device includes a spring clip for gripping the pin member. This fastening device consists of four parts, namely the spring clip, an inner disc, a locating disc, and a cover disc. The inner disc is dished and contains the spring; the locating disc overlays the spring within the inner disc; and the cover disc also is dished and fits over the inner disc to close that disc and to retain the locating disc, and hence the spring clip, in place. Aligned apertures are provided in the discs to receive the pin member. The spring clip has a hairpin-like clip portion for gripping the pin member, said portion extending radially inwardly from, and being located by, an annular portion abutting the side walls of the dished inner disc.
The fastening device of OLS No. 3002522 is an improvement over the conventional butterfly fastening device but is of relatively complex construction and hence significantly more expense to manufacture. Further, all four component parts of the German device must be manufactured to relatively close tolerances to ensure alignment of the apertures and correct location of the spring clip relative to the apertures. Moreover, the German device is relatively bulky and heavy compared with the conventional butterfly fastening device.